Living with Delight!

If it’s “free”, it’s me!

One of my sayings is “if it’s free, it’s me.” I’m not one to turn down free stuff. But there’s an adage in marketing that you can’t give it away. One of the elders at St Paul in Harlingen tells the story of his dog who had a litter of puppies. Gary isn’t a breeder, so his goal in this was to make sure those pups ended up in a loving home. This was the days before social media and things like the Next Door app, so he took out an ad in the local newspaper which simply said, “FREE PUPPIES. 4 males, 3 females. And then telephone number.” He ran it in the run paper for 3 days and he received no phone calls what so ever for the free puppies.

That didn’t work and he didn’t want 8 dogs around the house, so he took out another ad. This time the ad said, “PUPPIES FOR SALE, 4 male, 3 females, $25 for the males, $30 for the females.” This time, when the paper was delivered in the morning, his phone began ringing off the hook immediately and all the puppies had a new home by dinner time. 7 puppies gone in less than a day.

What happened? What changed? Same paper, same puppies, same desire to find them new homes. Gary just needed to change how he communicated. When Gary said “free”, he was telling people, “these pups aren’t all that valuable.” When Gary said “25 for the males, 30 for the females”, now he’s telling people these dogs have value. They are worth an investment. They are worth your emotions. These puppies will bring you happiness.

The puppies are a treasure. We have a treasure in our passage this morning. And it is a treasure that brings us much delight. The treasure has infinite value. The treasure is life changing. The treasure is our destiny.

For the last 9 weeks we have been on a journey of looking at Discipleship as an adventure of loving and being loved by Jesus using this book by Justin Rossow as a guide to help us navigate this journey. What we have been learning along the way is that God truly does delight in us and he intends for the feeling to be mutual so that we too may delight in him and walk in his ways to the glory of his Holy name. Yet we have been learning along that way that while we can see this is a biblical truth and while we can sing Yes Jesus love me Yes Jesus Loves me the Bible tells me so!

Broken pitchers, blaze of glory

There’s a story in the Old Testament that recounts one of Israel’s greatest military victories. Israel was in the Promised Land just as God had promised them when he saved them out of Egypt through the Red Sea. They eventually get to the Promised Land, which what we now know as Israel on the east side of the Mediterranean. This is the land flowing with milk and honey that God has given them. They conquer many of the cities, removing people groups who did not worship the One True God of Israel. Israel was supposed to conquer all of the land and remove all of the false worship. Over the course of a 100 years or so, it becomes evident that Israel is not doing this. And various armies and people groups cause them all sorts of problems because they don’t worship the One True God of Israel. At one point, a group of people called the Midianites were in control of a lot of Israel and caused Israel a lot of pain. And God appoints a guy by the name of Gideon to free his people from the oppression of the Midianites. Gideon has a smaller army. Much smaller army. But he surprised the Midian army at night. Vastly outnumbered, Gideon wins a battle with pitchers, torches, and horns. The text we read moments ago says,

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 7)

They blew their rams’ horns and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. The three companies blew their rams’ horns and shattered their pitchers. They held their torches in their left hands and their rams’ horns to blow in their right hands, and they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” (Judges 7:19-20)

Think about this. Middle of the night. A big, big crash. 300 clay pitchers being shattered on the ground. Instant light. Inside the pitchers, a torch of light now glowing brightly with 299 other torches. Instantly. And then the rams’ horns. 300 torches of instant light, 300 rams horns, instant noise. And then 300 voices, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.” The visual effect would be stunning… blackness into instant light. But then all the noise… the pitchers breaking, the rams horns, and the voices… all of which support the light. The next verse tells us that the Midianites were dazed and confused and soon running for their lives, even though they had the numbers on Israel’s army. That’s a huge victory. Fueled by sight and sound.

Our de-churched context

Paul references this fantastic military victory hundreds of years later. Paul and the New Testament writers do this a lot. The recognize that the people and events in the Old Testament are telling us something about Jesus and the gospel. We find Jesus quoting his Bible, what we call the Old Testament, quite frequently. Jesus said more than once that all of the Old Testament is about him. So a story like this one involving Gideon and and 300 men with 300 torches is a story about who Jesus is and what He does for us.

So, Paul brings it up in his 2nd letter to the church in the city of Corinth. He is writing to a church that is enamored with rock star preachers. Even in the first century there were popular preachers who were more about image than substance. This was going on in the city of Corinth with the church that Paul and his team had planted. They found preachers more eloquent than Paul. That church is big on numbers. They are big on the best communicators. They are big on success-oriented Christianity. They want pastors who talk about how to win friends and influence people. And this missionary Paul says the Christian life isn’t about all that. The church isn’t about all that. Pastors and leaders who understand and lead God’s people aren’t about all that. And quite frankly, if we are going to be the church that Los Fresnos needs, our main message isn’t going to be 101 ways to succeed at life.

Did you know that here in Los Fresnos, more than half of our neighbors are people who used to go to church and they don’t go to church any more? A little over 70% here are what some call the “de-churched”. They are not going to church for a variety of reasons. Some don’t go to church because somewhere along the way, church just didn’t seem to match up with their own lives. What does church have to do with my life? Some have a hard time coming up with an answer to that question. I need help and the church doesn’t seem to be able to help or care to help. Others are out of church because they’ve been burned by church. Something bad happened to them at church.

What the “de-churched” don’t need is someone telling them how their lives are messed up. They’re already well aware of how their lives don’t stack up. What they also don’t need is someone telling them the 101 ways to get back on their feet or “5 steps to a better you.” They’ve either already tried the churchy self-help stuff. They’ve either done it and it seemed to work and now they are totally proud of themselves for having been better than the next person. Or they are now tanked in despair because it doesn’t work. Either way, Paul here in 2 Corinthians is saying the gospel is not about being the most polished or the most popular or the most practical. The gospel is contained in and proclaimed by those who are clay jars.

Treasure in clay jars

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 4)

We have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.

We have this treasure. What’s the treasure? The treasure is Christ. The treasure is the gospel. The treasure is forgiveness of sins. The treasure is salvation. The treasure is Jesus and all that He provides us in our salvation.

And this treasure is in clay jars. Clay jars here is speaking about people. God’s people. The treasure they have in Christ is not found in containers worth a fortune. The treasure is not in expensive packages or in the best presentations or the most fantatastic lives. Everything that the world claims is the model of success in business and life… the gospel is not found there. The gospel, Jesus, salvation, forgiveness, it’s all found in clay jars. Jars that can be and will be broken. Jars that are made up of the earth. The common. The mundane. The ordinary. Those kinds of containers. Containers that don’t look like much. Not the best. The cheapest. The ones that get overlooked. The ones that are not bullet proof but prone to shatter into a thousand pieces. That’s where you’ll find the gospel.

And shatter they do. We have this treasure in clay jars that get absolutely shattered and broken. Listen to what Paul says:

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 4)

We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh. So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

Look at these words that describe the jars of clay.

Afflicted

Perplexed

Persecuted

Struck down

Death

Mortal

You won’t find those words being used by the successful people. You won’t find those words being used by those who want to give the air of positivity. These are not words used to describe the most popular people. These are “loser” words… words that are people that don’t win. These are clay jars made up of God’s people and their lives. The message of the gospel is contained in clay jars that can be shattered. They are vulnerable.

What’s the point of all this? Why talk about clay jars that can be shattered? Remember the story of Gideon? That army of 300 threw down their clay jars and boom! The torches inside the clay jars immediately lit up the night sky. That’s what Paul is describing in our text.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 4

God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

God has “shone in our hearts”. How has God shone in our hearts? He has shone in our hearts by giving us grace and mercy and salvation and forgiveness through the knowledge of Jesus. He has shone in our hearts by giving us Jesus, the Light who has come to dwell among us and live in our hearts.

That light… the light of the gospel… the light of Jesus.. is contained in earthen jars, jars of clay. And when our lives are shattered, when we are broken, when we get thrown down in the mess of this world… boom! The light of the gospel lights up the darkness of the world we live in. We are clay jars to be shattered so that the light of Jesus can shine to others. Not in lives of success. But in lives that are broken.

Common, every day, ordinary

That’s what the de-churched in our community needs to see and hear. The light of the gospel, what Jesus has done for us, shining out of broken and shattered lives. In the midst of all the difficulty that we weather. We have the Jesus treasure that has been “hidden in jar of clay, perishable containers”. That’s you and me, not because the treasure needs protection or safe keeping but because those jars of clay are common, every day, ordinary people who just happen to spend our days with other common every day ordinary people. That precious treasure, the light and power of Christ within us, is accessible to common, ordinary, every day people because God has perfectly positioned us to make an eternal difference in the lives of those around us all of us. They see Jesus because our weakness and cracks and brokenness allow Jesus, our treasure, to shine into their lives.

All of this is counter-intuitive, really. Where do you keep precious treasures? Typically, we keep our precious treasures under lock and key. We bring it out on special occasions. My mom had a rare dinner set collection when I was growing up. We only saw those plates at Thanksgiving. Because they were rare, they spent most of their time behind the cabinet doors. You don’t let Chad eat on those often because he’s been known to break a Corelle plate or two… which is actually a remarkable feat.

We don’t lock this treasure away. We don’t keep it to ourselves. God’s Word makes this treasure accessible through common, every day ordinary people though human lips that speak it, not just when we are together here, but in HEB check out lines, in the cubicle next to you, in those holiday moments you’ll be having over the next few weeks. The light of Jesus shines through ordinary fingers that send that text message of encouragement and hope, that choose to wisely leverage social media for the kingdom of God as person of grace and peace and hope. He makes it accessible in ordinary water connected to His Word in baptism and the table of communion... accessible in ordinary bread and wine connected to his own body and blood to allow us to taste and see our sins truly our forgiven. Common, everyday, ordinary things and people who have a treasure in a pretty fragile and vulnerable container for everyone who needs it.

Sharing this kind of treasure with others in our brokenness creates Delight for others.

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 4)

As grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 4:15)

When the jars of clay are shattered to give light in the darkness, grace is extended to more and more people and that causes Delight! to increase. Delight in Jesus, Delight in what Jesus is doing for us in our lives and in our community. The more jars are breaking to shine the light of the gospel, the more delight! Jesus Delights in us. We don’t keep this Delight for ourselves. This is what it means to “live with Delight!” We Delight in giving Jesus to others, and when we do, we find that they are now Delighting in Jesus. Pretty soon, our entire community is a community of Delight! All because we have this treasure, the treasure of the gospel in broken jars of clay.

Let’s Pray.

We are shattered jars of clay shining the light of the gospel like Gideon’s army that night because there is One, Original, Jar of Clay. Jesus was broken for those who are broken. Jesus was shattered for those who are shattered. And he gives us his brokenness for our brokenness right here, right now at this table. This is His body, broken for you. This is His blood, shed for you… for the forgiveness of sins. This right here is the light shining into our darkness because the Jar of Clay was shattered and broken for us.